Shadows and Light
by Carrie1138
Summary: Some missing moments from Return of the Jedi. Leia, Luke and Han.
1. Shadows

**SHADOWS**

They had been in Ben Kenobi's house for three days now. It was a small house, so Chewbacca had decided to stay on the _Falcon_, which was parked nearby, along with Luke's X-wing. The plan to rescue Han Solo, still frozen in carbonite and acting as a macabre decoration in Jabba the Hutt's lair, was well in train. Lando was in place, and Luke had almost finished his new lightsaber. Once he had that ready, he would install it in the hidden compartment he had made in Artoo's dome, and then he would send the droids to Jabba. After that, he would need to plan no more: one event would follow another, as surely as night follows day. The Force would guide him, guide them all, and Han would be returned to them. He had no doubts.

When he emerged from the garage, his work done for the day, Leia was not in the house. He found her outside, sitting on the wall and watching the binary sunset.

He took a seat beside her. She remained silent for a while, then spoke, without looking at him.

"Earlier, you said everything's falling into place," she began. "What exactly did you mean?"

He shrugged. "Just that. I can't be any more exact, but I can feel it."

"The Force?"

He nodded as she turned to look at him. "It doesn't give me any details, but everything feels _right_. And not just rescuing Han, everything else too. I think we're approaching the end of this war."

"I really hope you're right," she said fervently.

"Me too," he smiled, putting his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, and they just sat there for a while, watching as the suns sank lower in the sky, washing the world with a warm, golden glow.

"It can be beautiful here," Leia said quietly. "So peaceful. I never understood before, why someone might want to live in the wilderness like this. But lately ..." She sighed. "It's been exhausting, these past few years. Sometimes I feel like all I've been doing is running …"

He nodded. "I know what you mean." Particularly in the past six months. After Bespin, they'd both been in shock, and they had turned to each other for comfort, instinctively. They had supported each other, wordlessly for the most part, neither wanting to talk about what they had been through, both understanding that. But Leia had told him, eventually. She had told him how she and Han had become close, and realised they loved each other, and how much it hurt to have him almost immediately stolen away from her. Luke knew she had a right to expect him to return her trust, to tell her in turn what had happened to him. But he found he couldn't, and he still couldn't, even now. He had long ago decided that he would not think about what Vader had told him, about whether it was true or not, until he could find out, for sure. But the only way he could find out was to ask Yoda, and he couldn't do that until he could get to Dagobah. So he had said nothing, and continued to say it ever since.

He took her hand. "I couldn't have got through these last few months without you, Leia," he said. "Thank you."

Leia knitted her fingers with his. "I know you don't want to tell me what happened to you," she whispered. "But I wish you would."

He shook his head. "I can't," he said sadly. "When I can, I will."

She looked at him, and her eyes were haunted. "What if … what if you never get the chance to?"

He frowned, confused. "What?"

"I don't know … I … I'm afraid I'm going to lose you."

"Lose me?" he echoed. "How?"

"To the Empire," she whispered. "To Vader …"

He stared at her. It was like she knew already.

"I had a dream." She was speaking so quietly now, like she was afraid her words had some mystical power, that speaking them could somehow make them come true. "More than one, actually. About you, and Vader and the Emperor. You were together … all three of you, and you were allies. They'd … converted you, or something … you were _like them_."

"What happens?" His voice, too, was barely audible.

"Nothing; I just see the three of you in a dark room, with a big window behind you, looking out onto space … but it's terrifying."

His heart was pounding. "On Cloud City," he whispered, barely believing he was telling her even this much, "Vader tried to turn me to the dark side. He wanted me to join him. He said that together we could defeat the Emperor and rule the galaxy. But I refused, Leia." He squeezed her hand, his voice becoming stronger as he spoke. "I told him I would never join him, and it's true. I'll never turn to the dark side. You'll never lose me like that, I promise."

She looked up at him, tears shining in her eyes, and threw her arms around him. "I believe you," she said. But her fears still lingered.

They stayed like that for what must have been a long time, just holding each other, each wrapped in their own silent thoughts, but taking comfort in each other's proximity.

Until a long, ululating call echoed across the desert plain, and Luke suddenly snapped alert, realising night had fallen. Tatooine was host to many nocturnal predatory species, not to mention the sandpeople, making outdoors a very unwise place to be after dark. He realised that if he didn't get the power turned down immediately, the house would be lit up like a beacon, drawing predators, both sentient and not, from miles around.

"We better get inside," he said. "It's not safe to be outside after dark around here."

Once inside, he had the shutters down and the lights reduced to minimum within a minute, but he was still painfully aware that he'd missed all the warning signals he used to know so well. "My uncle always said I'd make a lousy farmer," he commented wryly.

"You've been a long time away," Leia reminded him, smiling softly.

"I guess," he agreed. "I almost didn't go with Ben, you know," he told her, sitting on the couch beside her. "But with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru gone … there was nothing to stay for."

Leia shook her head. "The Empire has a lot to answer for," she said.

He caught his breath. "Alderaan," he whispered. "Not just your family, your whole planet …"

She looked away. "Even though they weren't my real family, they were all I'd ever known … but it makes it worse in a way, that they were destroyed because of me, even though … I wasn't really theirs. It makes me feel responsible."

He reached for her hand. "No, Leia … you shouldn't feel that. It wasn't your fault."

"No? Bail and Breha chose to take me on. They didn't have to, they did it because they were good people … and it led to their deaths."

"Leia …" He shook his head. "They knew you were in the Alliance, right? Your father was as well. So … they supported you. I don't think they would have wanted you to do anything different. You weren't responsible for what happened to them, any more than they were for what happened to you."

She sighed. "When you put it like that … I know, Luke. When I look at it rationally, I know. But …"

"It hurts. I know. I feel the same when I think about my aunt and uncle."

She nodded, sadly, squeezing his hand. Not for the first time, Luke found himself thinking how much their lives paralleled each other, below the surface. Both adopted, knowing little about their birth parents. Both had their home and family destroyed by the Empire because of their involvement in the rebellion. Both had become targets for Darth Vader, though for different reasons. Perhaps that was why they seemed to understand each other so well. And perhaps, he reflected, that was why he'd been able to reach her at Cloud City. He had called to her out of desperation, just because he'd known she was nearby, not really expecting her to hear him. Yet she had. And he'd been wondering why ever since. He shrugged mentally: just another thing to ask Yoda about, he supposed. There was so much he still didn't know about the Force … so much he still had to learn. He hoped he would still have time to learn it when the coming fight was over.


	2. Dust

**DUST**

The moment her feet hit the deck of the skiff, Leia headed for Han. He was sitting on a low bench in a corner, and held out his hands to her as she approached.

"Can you see?" she asked.

He shook his head. "A little. Nothing clear yet." He reached up and touched her face gently, his eyes narrowing as he tried to focus. She took one of his hands in hers, kissed his palm. Then she dropped to her knees and embraced him. They kissed, slowly, forgetting for the moment where they were, what else was happening.

They only returned to reality when Chewbacca hooted with laughter and threw a blanket over them. Leia fought her way out from under the thick fabric, laughing herself as Chewie explained innocently that he just didn't want her to get sunburnt. Realising he actually had a point with that, she wrapped herself in the blanket and moved to the bench beside Han. He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close against his side. She leaned on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist. Looking around, the full reality of the situation hit her for the first time, and she suddenly found herself fighting tears of relief.

Chewbacca sat down with them, draping one long arm across both of their shoulders. In the middle of the deck, Artoo-Detoo was reattaching See-Threepio's loose photoreceptor, while Luke stood at the front with Lando, who was flying the skiff.

Luke had spotted something on the horizon. "Sandstorm," he said quietly, pointing it out.

"Can we avoid it?" Lando asked.

The young Jedi shook his head. "Too big. And we can't fly through it, it'll clog the intakes. Get us as far as you can, but after that we're going to have to ditch the skiff and walk."

Lando nodded, keeping the skiff on course as Luke checked for protective clothing in the storage bins.

* * *

Leia and Han left the cockpit of the _Millennium Falcon_ as Lando and Chewbacca prepared for the jump to lightspeed. She had not left his side since they'd left the skiff, guiding him through the sandstorm, then through the ship, even though she was sure he knew the _Falcon_ well enough to find his way without her. Now she took him to his bunk.

"I'm okay, you know," he told her. "My sight's getting better all the time, and -"

She shook her head emphatically. "You need to rest. It'll take us 12 hours to get back to the fleet, and I want you to sleep most of the way. When you wake up, your eyesight should be well on the way to being fully recovered. Do you want something to eat before -"

It was his turn to interrupt. "Sweetheart, I haven't eaten for six months, and a big juicy nerf steak would really hit the spot right now, but … damn, Chewie can cook. You stay here."

"Will you rest, if I do?"

He grinned. "Of course."

She smiled back at him. "All right then, but give me a minute. I need to change my clothes." She crossed to her own bunk and got a shirt and pants from her pack, then glanced back at Han. He was watching her.

She pursed her lips. "Exactly how much can you see, Captain?"

He grinned again. "Oh, practically nothing. That blanket you're wearing - it's green, right?"

It was brown. She laughed. "I'll be two minutes." Climbing into her bunk, she drew the curtain, and changed out of the slave outfit Jabba had made her wear. Then she returned to Han's bunk and lay down with him, snuggling up close.

Han kissed her forehead. "So what did I miss while I was out?" he asked. "Chewie told me the basics, but then there was something about the kid being a Jedi knight now … tell me the Wook's not losing his mind?"

She smiled. "It's true, Han," she told him. "While we were on the way to Bespin, he was training with an old Jedi master. I don't know how much you could see, of what happened in the desert, but it's amazing what he can do now. He has real power."

He heard the pride in her voice, and suddenly had an overwhelming desire to change the subject. "And what about the Alliance?"

"There's a lot to tell," she warned.

"Got time," he murmured.

Leia could feel him drifting toward sleep, so spoke softly. "Okay. Well, when we got back to the fleet, it was obvious that our cell wasn't the only one that had been routed recently. It'd been a long time since I'd seen so many of our ships and people in one place. We stayed on the medical frigate for a week, while Luke recovered from his injuries. Then we moved to _Home One_, the new Mon Calamari flagship. The Mon Cal have finally thrown their weight behind the Alliance. It's a significant development, and has made a big difference to our military capabilities. And their ships are beautiful.

"Mon Mothma asked me to take a permanent seat on the General Council, so I've been busy there. They've been trying to pull Luke in too, in an advisory role. Now he's a Jedi, his status in the Alliance is a lot higher than it was. Though sometimes I think they put too much pressure on him. He says himself he's not fully trained, and he's hardly a replacement for the Jedi order as a whole …"

She paused. Han said nothing. His breathing was deep and slow. He was already asleep. Leia thought of getting up, leaving him to rest, but he might wake up if she moved now, and it was important that he sleep, to give him the best chance of making a full recovery from the effects of his time in hibernation. Besides, she was comfortable, and warm, and it felt so good just to lie there, to be in Han's arms again after so long. It had been a long time since she had felt so relaxed. She closed her eyes. Moments later, she too was fast asleep.

* * *

When Leia woke, the ship was quiet. She had no idea how long she had slept, but someone had covered them with a blanket at some point. The lights were dimmed, and Chewbacca was snoring gently in the bunk opposite. All was peaceful.

She closed her eyes, intending to go back to sleep, but found she couldn't. For a while, she was content just to lie with Han, listening to his quiet, slow breathing, feeling his heart beat against her cheek. But eventually, she grew restless. She carefully extracted herself from the bunk and pulled on her boots before heading for the lounge.

Lando was in there, drinking a mug of caf. C-3PO was powered down in a corner. Hearing her footsteps, Lando looked up and smiled. "I see you got him to rest."

Leia smiled back. "Eventually. He seems to be recovering well, but I'll be a lot happier once we can get him checked over properly."

Lando nodded solemnly. "Hibernation can have serious side effects. Especially when done in such an unorthodox way. He was lucky."

She winced, thinking once more of how much worse it could have been. He could have died, he could have been paralysed, he could have lost his memory completely, his sight could have been gone forever … but, thank the Force, none of the worst had happened, and it seemed that his eyes would be all right too. He was, indeed, very lucky.

She sat down, taking the mug of caf Lando had poured for her. "Thank you for all your help," she said. "I doubt we could have done it without you."

He smiled his most charming smile. "You're welcome. I'm just glad I could undo some of the damage I did. I've been thinking about what I'll do when we get back to the Alliance too, and I wanted to ask you -"

"Do you need transport somewhere? I'm sure we can arrange that … maybe even a small ship. After all, you lost Cloud City because of us …"

He shook his head, smiling again. "No, no, that's not necessary. Actually, I was thinking of joining up, officially."

"Lando, that's wonderful. I know you're a great pilot, we can certainly use you."

"So you'll put in a word for me, then?"

"I'm not sure I'll need to, but sure. I can vouch for you."

Footsteps sounded behind them, and she looked around. "Han! You should be resting." She got up, hurrying over to him. He held out his hand to her. "I'm fine, sweetheart," he said. "Just tired."

Lando stood up, heading for the galley. "You did sleep for almost nine hours," he said, checking his chrono. "I guess that makes it time for breakfast. Have some caf, I'll bring some food in a while."

Han allowed her to lead him to the couch, even though he didn't really need the help, and they sat down together. They looked at each other for a long moment. "I can see you," he said finally. "Not perfectly, things are still a little blurry, but enough to see you're smiling."

"Thank the Force," she whispered. "I was so afraid …"

He shook his head. "Don't," he said. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, his familiar touch melting away all the pain and anxiety of the last six months. So many times she had thought this would never happen, he would never be returned to her, that it hardly seemed possible he was really here now.

"I missed you," she whispered.

Han reached for her hand, knitting her fingers with his. "You know, when they put me in that machine … I thought I was going to die. I guess I did … kind of. But then waking up again … I feel like it was just yesterday, but it was six months. And I'm never getting that time back." He looked up, into her eyes. "I guess I'm trying to say thanks for waiting."

She took him in her arms. "I wasn't waiting," she whispered. "I was looking for you."


	3. Night

**NIGHT**

The night before they left for Endor, someone had the bright idea of getting the team together for a party. It wasn't the best idea ever. Outside of a wake, it was the most subdued, gloomy party Leia could remember ever having been to. Page tried his best, but he was wasting his time. Waving his mug in the air, he yelled "Here goes nothing!", which at least raised some dark laughter. But most of the strike team found the knowledge of what they would soon face weighed on them too heavily to allow them to find oblivion in alcohol, however hard they searched for it. The mood grew more melancholy as time dragged on, and people began to drift away. Luke was one of the first to leave. Chewbacca got into a game of Sabacc. Han and Leia sat quietly together in a corner, watching. Until Leia lifted her head from his shoulder and looked into his eyes.

"Shall we go?" she asked.

He nodded. "To the _Falcon_?"

Over the past few years, Leia had spent a lot of time on the _Millennium Falcon_, but it was the trip to Bespin that had really changed her feelings about it. Before that trip, it had been merely Han's unreliable, irritating ship. Afterwards, it had felt like home. Its every tiny creak and hum had become familiar to her. And when Han was gone, being on his ship had comforted her, because it was full of the memory of him.

It seemed strange to think this could be the last time they ever saw it. Han had decided to pass the _Falcon_ on to Lando, since he wouldn't be able to take her to Endor, and she could be of much more use in Lando's hands than sitting as she was now in _Home One_'s main docking bay. He hadn't told Lando that yet though - while he knew it was the right thing to do, he still couldn't quite face making the actual handover, and Leia suspected it would be at the very last moment that he did. But the fact was, even if Lando made it out of the Death Star alive, she and Han still might never see the _Falcon_ again. Their mission was dangerous, and their chances of survival low. So it seemed only right that they should spend their last night here.

They sat down at the Dejarik table in the main hold, and Han poured them a drink from the bottle he'd swiped from the party. Leia smiled. "The last time we had a drink here, we were halfway to Bespin," she said.

"That was a long time ago, for you."

"It was."

Han put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him, closing her eyes. They were quiet for a while, both lost in memories, of what they had shared, and what they had not.

"Han?" she said finally. "Why didn't you tell me you'd volunteered to lead this mission?"

He took a drink, shrugging uncomfortably. "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, that's all. Madine asked me, and I said yes. I didn't tell anyone, not just you."

"You didn't tell me you were officially joining the Alliance either. And accepting a commission? _General_ Solo?"

He shrugged again. "I couldn't let Lando get one over on me, could I?"

Leia moved away from him, turned to look into his eyes. "You really think I'm going to buy that?"

"Well, what do you want me to say? Would you prefer if I'd said thanks for the rescue, see ya princess? Or do you just want to hear that I'm doing it all for you?" His voice dripped with sarcasm, and she winced.

"Han …"

He shook his head, reached for her hand again. "I had to do _something_. I couldn't just sit on the command ship with you and do nothing."

He was trying to be conciliatory, she knew that, but his choice of phrase, on top of the evasiveness, annoyed her. "Oh, because that's what we do on the command ship, isn't it?" she snapped. "Nothing." She suddenly wanted to stand up, leave the table, the room, the ship even, but she couldn't extract her hand from his quickly enough, and by the time she had, the energy had dissipated.

"Leia … that's not what I meant. Come on, do we have to do this tonight?"

It might be the last night they had, that was what he meant. And he was right. But if not now, then when? She shook her head, sighing. "I just don't understand. Everything's moving so fast now, I can't keep up with it. And nobody's telling me anything. Something's troubling Luke, but he won't tell me what. And you …"

Han shrugged. "Who knows what's going on in Luke's head now? I think all that Jedi stuff fried his brain."

"That's not fair."

He shrugged. "You're awfully concerned about him all of a sudden."

"He's my … friend." She frowned at herself, having no idea why she'd paused. She pulled herself together. "And he used to be yours too."

"He still is. I just … don't get it."

She sighed. Whenever she spoke about Luke these days, he bristled. He was jealous, and she didn't like it. She really didn't want to argue any more, but she still wanted him to understand.

"I don't know what happened between him and Vader on Cloud City, because he won't tell me," she said softly. "But for a while, I was really afraid for him. Not just his physical injuries, but what Vader had done to his mind." Her voice dropped lower. "On top of losing you … it was a difficult time."

He took her in his arms. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

She shook her head. "You've nothing to be sorry for. But … in future, if you want to sign up for any crazy near-suicide missions, could you at least tell me first?"

He smiled. "Hey - if it's all right for you to risk your life in the name of some crackpot idea of freedom, which by the way you were doing long before I met you …"

"Crackpot?" She tried to muster up some outrage, but her voice was very soft. Almost a whisper.

"That's right." He kissed her, very quickly. "Crackpot." He kissed her again. "Crazy." And again. "Lunatic."

"I must be …" she murmured. When he kissed her this time, he didn't pull away. Her arms went around him, drawing him closer as she buried her fingers in his hair. He was right. It wasn't the time for arguing. Tonight might be all they had. And it would be a shame to waste it …


	4. Mist

**MIST**

"Could you tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?"

"I -" She turned away, barely holding back the tears. There it was again. It was always about Luke for him lately, always thinking her friendship with him was more than it was. Well, it turned out it was, but not in the way Han thought. She kept having to remind herself that Han had missed the last six months, he hadn't been around to see how her relationship with Luke had developed after Cloud City. He hadn't seen Luke broken and lost, nor how long it had taken him to put himself back together, nor how much he had needed her support, as she had needed his. How much closer they had grown.

She heard him walk away, but didn't call him back. Then he stopped, turned, and approached her again. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

She dived into his arms. "Hold me," she begged.

He held her, but she could feel that his heart wasn't in it. He patted her shoulder gently, unsure, then rested his head on top of hers. She closed her eyes. She wanted to tell him, more than anything, but she knew she couldn't. If only he trusted her … but she didn't know how to make him do that. It was too much to explain, what she and Luke shared. Especially now.

"Where did he go?" Han asked finally. "Can you tell me that?"

"Vader's on this moon," she whispered. "He's gone to talk to him."

"He - what?" He held her away from him so he could look at her. "What the hell is he thinking? And you let him go?"

Leia shook her head. "I had to," she said, feeling the tears rising again. "I couldn't stop him doing what he feels he needs to do. I wish I could … But you know they have a connection."

Han sighed. "Vader killed the kid's dad, right?"

She made a noncommittal sound.

"Vader's not going to just sit and chat with him, you know that, don't you? If he doesn't kill him on the spot, he'll take him prisoner …"

"And probably take him to the Death Star, I know. Han, I tried to talk him out of it …"

He drew her close again, kissed her forehead. "I know, sweetheart. I'm sorry …"

Leia hid her face in his shoulder again. Somehow, she felt alone. When Luke had told her they were all connected, through the Force, and that they all had a part to play in this coming battle, she had taken comfort from that, thinking they would all be together: her, Han, Luke, Chewie, even the droids … like it had been in the beginning. They would face their fate together. But now Luke was gone. He had taken a different path, one that she couldn't follow him on, and she was afraid for him.

Han sensed it. He could tell that her thoughts were with Luke, not with him, not with their mission. She was in his arms, but she wasn't _with_ him. He had known things had changed while he was frozen, but he still didn't understand what exactly had gone on, was still going on, and he hadn't had time to find out. He hadn't pushed it, thinking there would be time after the mission was over, and if the mission ended badly, then, well, none of it would matter any more anyway. But now it seemed it was already too late. Luke had gone, and Leia's heart had gone with him.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

She shook her head. "Don't. It's not your fault. It's … this mission, and … everything. Don't go."

"I'm not …"

Her head pushed against his chest, like she was trying to hide from something. She was a real mess. He'd never seen her like this, except that one time when she'd spoken to him about the destruction of Alderaan.

"I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart," he whispered. "Not as long as you want me around." Even if he had lost her, he knew that much: he wouldn't leave her while she needed him.


	5. Starlight

**STARLIGHT**

"No," she shook her head, smiling. "It's not like that at all. He's my brother."

Han, for once, was speechless.

Leia smiled, and kissed him. It took him a moment to stop thinking about it, and then he gave in, and kissed her back. But not for long.

"What do you mean, he's your brother? How long have you known? Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

"He only told me last night," she said. "And he'd only known himself for a little while, since he went back to Dagobah after we left Tatooine. I didn't tell you last night because … well, it was dangerous. With Vader and the Emperor still out there … you know what happened the last time we were in Vader's hands. If we had been captured … if he had found out … I couldn't risk it."

He nodded, understanding, finally. "On the walkway, right? After the Ewoks made us part of the tribe?"

"I'm sorry."

He pulled her close. "It doesn't matter. I understand."

She sighed, deeply. "I love you, Han." But her voice was sad.

"I love you too, Leia," he told her, trying to reassure her. "It's okay."

She sighed again. She should tell him, about Vader, about her father. He should know … who she really was. But she couldn't bear to, not yet. It would change things, and she was afraid … afraid he might leave her if he knew, that he wouldn't be able to cope with it. She remembered the revulsion she'd felt when Luke had told her Vader was his father, the horror that had swamped her. It had barely lasted a second, had been almost instantly replaced by sympathy, but she would never forget that initial feeling. And she didn't want Han to feel like that about her. Not even for a second.

Later, she decided. She would tell him later. First, she needed to talk to Luke again, hear the whole story. She shivered.

Han's arms tightened around her. "Are you all right?" he asked, remembering her blaster wound. "You're not going into shock, are you?"

She smiled, shook her head. "No," she whispered. "I'm okay." _For now … _

Around them, the Ewoks continued to celebrate, and above their heads, the Death Star continued to burn itself out. Luke, Lando and Wedge were on their way back from the battle, while the rest of the Alliance dealt with the remnants of the Imperial fleet. The battle was all but over, and soon, the war would be too. There would be work to be done, putting the galaxy back together. But for now, it was time to enjoy the victory, so that was what she would do: go to the inevitable party, celebrate along with everyone else, and think about all the rest of it later.


	6. Dawn

Note: This was originally written in 1997, but never published. I've only made a few minor changes to it, mainly for continuity reasons.

**DAWN**

Dawn was breaking over the Endor forests, the sun through the trees dappling everything with a thousand points of warm, soft light. The early morning mists had burned off the forest floor, leaving the ferns dewy and glistening, the air heavy with the scent of early-morning vegetation. Higher in the forest, in the tree-dwelling Ewoks' villages, the mist was still rising, and to anyone who looked down from the walkways, the villages seemed to float on a sea of cloud.

Not that many people were bothering to admire the view this morning. Above the trees, above the clouds, above the moon of Endor itself, there orbited the debris of a battle that should by all the odds have been over before it was even joined. If Emperor Palpatine had indeed foreseen as much as he'd thought, it would have been his Imperial troops taking prisoners up there, ferrying wreckage to a safe distance, and planning the future of the galaxy without opposition. Instead, it was the Alliance to Restore the Republic performing those tasks while the Death Star's continued disintegration formed the Empire's funeral pyre.

Back in the Ewok villages, those who'd fought that climactic battle were still for the most part sleeping off the celebration of a victory they'd none of them dared hope for, let alone expect. In one particular village, the central square was a jumble of Ewoks, Alliance pilots, and soldiers from many corners of the galaxy, between whom a lone female human picked her way, searching for a secluded spot, a place where she could be alone and catch herself up with the events of the past few days.

Finally, on the outskirts of the village, Leia Organa found herself an isolated stretch of walkway, and, with no-one else in sight, leaned on the guardrail and sighed, breathing deep of the morning air, finding in it a freshness due not only to the weather.

Leia had a lot to assimilate. Not only did she, in common with everyone else, have to accept that they had won, the Empire was finally finished, but she had the fact that Han was back, that he was staying, that he loved her! on top of the fact that Luke had taken on Vader and the Emperor, and survived, and that he was her brother! And … and then there was the thing she didn't even want to acknowledge that she'd heard, let alone think about. Vader was her father. She didn't want that, wanted to deny it entirely, refuse it any credence. But Luke was her brother, and she did want that. And then there was the Force. Luke believed she shared that with him too, but did she want it? Could she trust herself to use it? She sighed.

"Leia?"

She knew his voice immediately, turned to smile at him. "Luke." They hugged tightly. Through the Force, Luke felt all her confusion and uncertainty in that instant, and it was no more than he'd expected. He remembered how he'd reacted when Vader had told him what he'd had to tell Leia, his horror that the man who'd killed Ben Kenobi, and indirectly ordered the death of the only family he'd ever known, was his own father. But for Leia it was the man who'd personally tortured her, killed her friends on the _Tantive IV_, helped plan and carry out the destruction of not only the people she thought of as her family, but her entire home planet. And she hadn't been close enough to him, as Luke had, to see the good left in him, to witness his ultimate return to the light.

"When our father was dying," he told her softly, "he asked me to give you a message, to tell you … that I was right about him. That there was still good in him."

Leia looked up at him. "How did you know? That I was thinking about him?"

He smiled. "I didn't. But it wouldn't have been hard to guess."

She turned away, looked out at the trees again, out into the mist. That was how she felt, as if she was seeing everything through a mist.

A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Did he know about me then? That I was his daughter?"

Luke shook his head. "Only at the end. Only when he … sensed my feelings for you."

Leia frowned. "But when? And when did he find out about you? And … what was he going to do to you?" She turned to face him, her eyes haunted by half-understood memories. "He told you on Cloud City, didn't he?"

Luke nodded, sadly.

"That was why you wouldn't tell me when I asked you what happened there, wasn't it?" Another nod. She moved closer to him, took his hands. "I need to know, Luke. What happened then, what happened yesterday. The whole story."

He met her eyes. "I'll try."

They found a place to sit, their backs against the trunk of a very old tree, and Luke took a deep breath. "So … where shall I start?"

Leia smiled. "That's a very big question. On Tatooine," she decided. "What did you know about your parents then?"

"Not much," he replied. "Uncle Owen told me my father had been a navigator on a spice freighter, and I never questioned that. Then Ben Kenobi told me he'd known him, he'd been a fighter pilot in the Clone Wars, a Jedi knight, and he'd been killed by Darth Vader. I never questioned that either. Then … on Cloud City, Vader was trying to turn me to the dark side, and he told me Ben had lied, that he was my father. I was … I was already beaten then, we were out on a gantry over the city's central core, at least a hundred foot drop. But Vader didn't want to kill me, he kept saying, 'Don't make me destroy you.'" He shook his head. "I didn't want to believe him. I tried to convince myself it was just a ploy … but he was right. Deep down, I knew it was the truth." Leia took his hand, and he smiled sadly at her.

"But he said something else. He wanted me to join him, said we could rule the galaxy as father and son. And … then he said that the Emperor had foreseen that I could destroy him, that it was my destiny. Till then, I'd thought I only had two choices - join Vader, or die. But if the Emperor was right, if it was my destiny to destroy him, then I'd have to live a little longer at least. I let go."

"And that's how you ended up hanging under the city."

He nodded. "The Force had protected me, but I knew I couldn't hang on forever. I tried calling to Ben, but he'd told me he couldn't help this time. You …" he squeezed her hand. "You were my last hope."

Leia gazed into the mist, remembering how she'd heard his call, the compelling intensity of it. "And now we know why it worked," she murmured.

They remained silent for a while, then Leia spoke again. "But you never talked about any of this," she said, shaking her head. "What a burden to carry. And I kept asking you about it. I'm sorry."

Luke shook his head too, gave a rueful smile. "If you'd only known how many times I'd wanted to tell you. I wished I could, but … I didn't _know_. And I knew what Vader had done to you, and … No. I just couldn't. I had to speak to Yoda, find out the truth first."

Another piece fell into place. "That was where you went after Tatooine."

"Right. And Yoda, of course, told me the last thing I wanted to hear. And on top of that, he told me I'd have to face Vader again, that until I did, I wouldn't truly be a Jedi."

"And he told you about me?"

"No. Yoda was dying, he couldn't tell me much. He told me to pass on what he'd taught me, said something about 'another Skywalker', and … then he was gone. It was Ben told me the rest." He paused. "Ben wanted me to kill Vader. He encouraged me to see Vader and Anakin Skywalker - our father - as two different people. But I knew there was part of Anakin still in Vader, that's why he didn't want to kill me. And I couldn't bring myself to kill my own father. I was trying to get out of it, that's why I brought up the 'other' Yoda had mentioned. Ben told me he'd meant my twin sister." He looked into Leia's eyes. "He didn't need to tell me it was you. I knew. Like you knew me."

Leia nodded. "I recognised you. I felt like, how could I not have seen it before, when I knew you so well?"

Luke smiled. "We were only babies when they separated us, but we'd known each other through the Force."

"Yes," she said softly. "That was what I recognised in you - not your face, your … sense." She held his hands tightly. "And I thought I was going to lose you again. Going off to the Death Star, to face Vader and the Emperor … if they didn't destroy you, kill you or turn you to the dark side, then how would you get off the Death Star before it blew?"

Luke gave a small smile. "I never even thought about escaping," he told her. "Resisting the dark side was the hardest part. I couldn't afford to have anything else on my mind. Even so, the Emperor was clever, and so was Vader. I almost turned." He met her eyes again. "But I've always remembered something you said to me once, that losing me to the Empire was the thing that scared you more than anything else. I promised myself I wouldn't let you down."

"Oh, Luke." She hugged him, held him tight, still hardly able to believe that he had come back, that she wasn't dreaming the whole thing.

"The Emperor was provoking me to try and kill him," he said softly. "He knew if I did, I would be acting on my anger, my aggression, I would be using the dark side. I tried to hide, I refused to fight. And then … I sensed you. You were in pain, you were afraid, and I couldn't block it out. Vader picked up on it, and that's how he realised who you were. He said …" But he couldn't say it.

"Tell me," Leia said quietly. Her voice was calm, strong.

"He said if I wouldn't turn to the dark side, perhaps you would."

Leia groaned.

"He'd found my weak spot," Luke admitted. "I went for him, attacked like crazy, and almost killed him. But I was using the dark side. I didn't realize at first, I couldn't see through my anger. But when Palpatine started gloating over me, I saw it fast enough. I threw my lightsaber away and refused to fight any more, and then he turned on me. And he would have killed me … but for Father."

Leia blinked. That was the first time he'd directly called Vader that.

"He saved me, Leia," he told her. "Even though he knew it would kill him too, he destroyed Palpatine. Father killed the Emperor."

Leia was silent, trying to take it all in.

"I tried to help him," Luke continued sadly. "I thought if I could get him off the Death Star, get him some medical help … but he didn't want it. He asked me to take his mask off, he wanted to see me with his own eyes … And he was just a man, Leia. Not a monster. Just a man."

Leia sighed, deeply. Was it enough? Vader had turned, at the last, saved his son, killed the Emperor … but did that balance what he'd done in the past? Did it go any way towards repaying the lives lost on Alderaan? The lives of the Jedi knights he'd hunted down and murdered? The countless lives he'd casually thrown away over trivial offences? Would she ever be able to tell people "Darth Vader is my father," without wincing, without every fibre of her being wanting to deny the fact?

"No," she said.

"What?" Luke looked down at her, surprised at the determination in her tone, and when he saw it, in her face.

She shook her head. "I can't … accept it, Luke. I can't reconcile what he's done with what you're telling me now. There's just too much."

"It was the dark side, Leia."

"And does that absolve him from everything he did while he called himself Darth Vader? You said you couldn't see him as two different people, well neither can I. He may not have wanted to kill you, but you were the only person he ever thought twice about. No-one else was that fortunate."

"I'm sorry, Leia." There was nothing else he could say.

"Me too," she said quietly. "And I'm sure he was sorry too, in the end. It doesn't change what he's done."

"No," Luke agreed. "It doesn't. But I still don't feel able to condemn him for it now."

"Luke, he turned you over to the Emperor! The Emperor almost killed you! And because Vader stepped in at the last moment, that makes everything all right?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Luke. It may be easy for a Jedi knight to be so forgiving, but it's not for me."

"Leia, you don't understand the temptations of the dark side - "

"Maybe I don't," she broke in. "But I know you've withstood them. Why couldn't he?"

"I had his example to show me how wrong it was," Luke said quietly. "Maybe he wasn't that lucky."

"You don't need the example of a Darth Vader to know right from wrong," she retorted.

"No," he said thoughtfully. "_You_ don't."

She frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Just that you've always had a highly-developed sense of what's right and what's wrong," he told her. "You've always acted for … for good … And tried to do the least harm along the way to achieving it. I've always admired you for that."

Leia shook her head. "I'm … nothing special. I just …" She paused, thought a moment. "No - wait. If I tried to do good, it's because I saw the Empire was bad. I vowed I wouldn't be like them. But … Vader - Anakin, whatever - he was around at the beginning of the Empire. He'd have seen what it was like. And he still chose to join it."

"Maybe things were different then," Luke suggested. "Maybe, to begin with, he thought he was doing good …"

Leia shook her head. "It's no excuse."

"Right she is, Luke. From a certain point of view."

Luke whirled. "Yoda!"

"What?"

He looked back at her. "Yoda's here. Don't you see him?"

Leia stared. "All I see is a tree."

Luke turned around again. The old Jedi master was still there, glowing slightly with that familiar blue aura, but as clear as he'd been in life.

"Master Yoda, what's wrong?" he asked. "Why can't she see you?"

Yoda smiled slightly. "The Force is strong in her, yes, but untrained. Help her you must."

Luke looked back at Leia, who was staring as if he'd sprouted another head, then back at his teacher. "How?"

The Jedi master chuckled. "No more training do you require, Luke. Your turn it is now. Pass on what you have learned."

Luke bit his lip. "I'll tr-" but Yoda's look stopped him, and he smiled ruefully. He turned back to Leia. "Yoda's here," he told her, "and I want you to see him, but you'll have to use the Force. I can show you how. Will you let me?"

Leia blinked, looked from Luke to the empty space he'd just been talking to, back to him, and took a deep breath. She didn't know if she was ready for this. To use the Force consciously, for the first time … She looked away.

"I feel your uncertainty, Leia. But it's nothing to be afraid of. Trust me?"

She met his eyes again. "I've always trusted you, Luke. Okay."

He took her hands, looked deep into her eyes, deliberately kept his voice calm and soft. "First, you have to clear your mind. Put away all your doubts and fears. You have to be passive, relaxed, let the Force flow, let it work through you …"

She closed her eyes, breathing slowly, deeply, letting her mind drift with his voice. As all other thoughts faded, she became aware of other things, the tree against her back, the wood of the walkway she was sitting on, the gentle coolness of the morning breeze …

"Good," she heard Luke whisper, then, "Open your eyes."

She did so, slowly, saw Luke, and behind him, filling the empty space she'd seen before, a small figure, not of any species she recognised, greenish, with large ears and eyes, and surrounded by a shimmering blue glow. "Master Yoda?" she breathed, her voice full of awe.

The Jedi master bowed to her slightly, smiling. "Leia Skywalker," he greeted her.

The name made her start, and her hands tightened on Luke's. Then she smiled. "I've never been called that before," she said.

"Your true name it is," Yoda told her. "The name of your family."

She looked at Luke. He was smiling. She smiled back at him. "That part I never objected to."

Luke turned back to Yoda. "Master … what you were saying, about Father …?"

Yoda nodded, sadly. "Complex it is, this business of Vader/Skywalker. Not simply two different people. So, we forget the names. The man only is our concern. Much wrong he did. But, some good also. A powerful Jedi he was, but impatient. Reckless," he pointed at Luke. "And proud," he told Leia, then chuckled at their expressions. "Like naughty children you look now, heh! You must learn from your father's mistakes."

"We will," Luke promised. "We won't follow his path."

Leia looked uncertain. "But, Master Yoda, I can't forgive him."

Yoda laughed again. "Heh! Who asked for your forgiveness? But make your peace you must, with your heritage. Search your feelings, Leia. What do you feel for your father?"

She hesitated a moment, thinking hard. What _did_ she feel? Right now, maybe it was the calming influence of Yoda - or the Force itself - but she didn't feel angry anymore. She didn't exactly hate him either. She -

"I feel _hurt!_" she cried. The words rode on a wave of tears she couldn't hold back. "He hurt me, hurt Luke, hurt Han, hurt millions of people … and he was my _father!_"

Luke moved closer, put an arm around her, and she buried her face in his chest, sobbing. He held her close, rubbed her shoulders, felt her pain as his own.

"I know," he told her softly. "It's how I felt on Cloud City."

She looked up at him, her face full of anguish. There were tears in his eyes too. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

Leia broke down again, crying till she felt she could never stop. Luke held her, supported her whether she clung to him or tried to push him away. She could say nothing, couldn't even think coherently, just felt again all the pain she hadn't allowed herself to acknowledge through the years of the war.

Luke looked at Yoda, worried. The Jedi master smiled gently, spoke quietly to him alone. "It will pass," he reassured him. "Good it is that she feels this. She will understand better for it."

Luke turned back to his sister, reached gently into her mind, but found there no traces of her former confusion, no conflict in her feelings, simply a pure, clean sorrow that swept away all vestiges of bitterness and anger. He didn't intrude any further, but let her feel his support in the Force as well as physically, showed her he would be there as long as she needed him.

Neither of them could ever say how long they remained like that, but eventually Leia's sobs abated, and after a while Luke felt her wipe her eyes roughly with the back of her hand, heard her sigh raggedly. She sat back a little, looked up at him.

Their eyes met.

There was a moment of intense communication between them. No words were spoken, no thoughts exchanged, but in that instant they each knew the other better than anyone had known either of them before. Brother and sister born, they had been deprived of the chance to grow up together, to know each other by experience. Now, the bond was re-forged. It was as if everything that had happened to them so far in their lives had happened with the sole purpose of leading them back to this moment, to this place in time where they could sit, and look into each other's eyes, and know each other completely.

Yoda called their names, from a long way away. They blinked, simultaneously, and turned to face him, as if waking from a shared dream.

Yoda smiled. "A long time have I waited, to see this reunion," he told them. "Now, I can rest."

Luke understood first. "Master Yoda, must you go?" he asked plaintively.

The old Jedi looked amused. "Never do you get tired of asking this? My time is long past, Luke. But I will be with you still, in the Force." He looked at each of them, fixed them with his gaze. "Great power do you share, children. Use it wisely."

"We will," Luke promised.

Leia echoed him. "We will."

"Good." The image was already beginning to fade. "The Force will be with you," he told them. "Always."

Then the only sound was the wind whispering in the trees.


End file.
